Sunday, September 20, 2009

Triple Chocolate Cake and A Winner!

This cake was chose by the Cake Slice Bakers for this months cake. It also happens to be the last cake we are baking as a group from Sky High Cakes. It has been a pleasure baking this from this amazing book, but I look forward to different styles and flavors of cake from our new baking book, Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Tune in next month for that wonderful cake!

Since we are switching to a new baking book, as are also accepting new members to bake along with us. We only bake one cake a month that we all vote on, then blog about it on the 20th. If you're interested in becoming a member (and I hope you are!) you can email Katie at: (appleandspice [AT] hotmail.co.uk) with ‘Cake Slice Member’ as the subject.

On to this fabulous confection-- Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake! Sounds great doesn't it? It consisted of a chocolate mayonnaise cake made with strong coffee and a bit of cinnamon. The mayonnaise serves in place of oil or butter as there are still eggs in this cake. It's filled with a white chocolate mousse and covered in sour cream fudge! So this cake uses cocoa powder, white chocolate, and dark chocolate. Yum!

I made 2 versions of this cake-- a 6-inch triple layer cake and a 9-inch double layer cake from one recipe. The 6-inch cake was a paid order for my boss' husband's birthday. He is a major chocoholic and loved this. The larger cake stayed home with Mr. H and I, but we graciously shared with our neighbors, family and friends. A little went a long way.

I only had one minor problem with this cake and it was the frosting. It wasn't really a problem it just wasn't the consistency I wanted. It makes a loose but fudgy frosting that's supposed to be the consistency of mayonnaise. It was just difficult to spread over the cake so I added about a cup of sifted powdered sugar and a little vanilla to thicken and smooth it out. It became very thick almost immediately so I then added a little milk and called it perfect.

It spread beautifully and I was even able to pipe a simple border on the cakes. A few of you have asked me how I get my cakes so smooth. I use an off-set spatula and a rotating cake stand. I haven't always done it this way though. I just bought the revolving cake stand a couple months ago, but it has made my life so much easier and my cakes so much smoother. I'm in love with it. See look how smooth. Does anyone else get turned on by super smooth frosting? Anyone?

Put the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring the milk to a simmer. Pour the hot coffee and milk over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Let the mocha liquid cool slightly.

In a mixer bowl, beat together the eggs, mayonnaise and vanilla until well blended. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add the dry ingredients and mocha liquid alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beating until smooth and well blended. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out almost clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes before un-molding onto a wire rack and carefully peeling off the paper. Leave to cool completely.

NOTE: Do not use salad dressing, Miracle Whip or Lite Mayo. I used Hellman's or Best Foods Real Mayonnaise.

White Chocolate Mousse

4 ounces white chocolate, chopped

1 cup heavy cream

1 egg white

1 tbsp sugar

Melt the white chocolate with ¼ cup cream in a double boiler. Whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and let the white chocolate cream cool to room temperature.

When it has cooled, beat the remaining ¾ cup cream until soft peaks form. In a clean bowl whip the egg white with the sugar until fairly stiff peaks form.

Fold the beaten egg white into the white chocolate cream, then fold in the whipped cream until blended. Be sure not to over mix.

Sour Cream Chocolate Icing

12 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, chopped

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter

2 tbsp light corn syrup

¼ cup half-and-half at room temperature

½ cup sour cream, at room temperature

Melt the chocolate with the butter and corn syrup in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Remove from the heat and whisk until smooth.

Whisk in the half-and-half and sour cream. Use while still soft.

NOTE: This was too soft for me so I added about a cup of sifted powdered sugar, a 1/2 tsp. of vanilla and whisked it together. It was a little thick so I added milk to thin.

Assembly: Place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Cover the top evenly with half the white chocolate mousse, leaving a ¼ inch margin around the edge. Repeat with the second layer and the remaining mousse. Set the third layer on top and pour half the sour cream chocolate icing over the filled cake. Spread all over the sides and top. Don’t worry if some of the cake shows through. This first frosting is to seal in the crumbs, and is known as a crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.

After this time cover the cake with the rest of the icing, smoothing it down the sides. It should be the consistency of mayonnaise. Use a palette knife or the back of a spoon to swirl the frosting around the cake.

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Thank you all so much for leaving me comments about your pets, your friends, your hairy children. I loved reading each and every one of them. They made me laugh, they made me smile, they made me sad. But mostly I just appreciated the love you have for them. They are just so special, aren't they?

Monica,I vote for you opening your own bakery!! Why oh why can't you be my neighbor?? Can we become members if we use box cake mixes? I don't think I have made a cake any other way:( This one looks very delicious!

Looks delicious and I love your frosting. I recently made a sour cream chocolate frosting and it called for 1/2 tsp of salt. Well, that ruined it. I don't know why it called for salt and I should have never have added it. I could have kicked myself. I am going to try your version. Sounds perfect.

Who doesn't love chocolate? This cake looks sooooo good! Because of your blog, I've ordered the Sky High book. I can't wait to try some of the recipes. Can't wait to see next months cake either, because I have Southern Cakes on my wish list.

Monica it's just not right. Your frosting looks absolutely perfect! You know everyone's going to run out to get a turntable and be disappointed when their frosting's not as smooth as yours. I know 'cause I have TWO and took two courses and my frosting is a 10th as nice as yours. I want my money back....:)

Btw, I love your filling/frosting to cake ratio! You get a BIG thumbs up from me.

All kidding a side you did a beautiful job on the frosting and borders.

I'm drooling over here!! Looks so chocolatey and delicious!! I'd love a slice for breakfast. The sky high book is wonderful and I'd love to have it. I'll have to check out the new book you all will be cooking from. I would be interested in joining up for that.

I LOVE a perfectly smooth iced cake! Not that I have ever been able to turn one out, that only makes me appreciate them so much more I think. I want to make and eat a bowl of that mousse filling right now! Beautiful cake Monica :)

With all the chocolate desserts I've made, I have never made one with mayo--and why not? You're right, it's oil and eggs. I can't wait to try this...but I predict it will not look as gorgeous as yours!

As you know, I just made a chocolate cake. I ate 1/2 slice and I don't want the rest. I'm not crazy about chocolate cake. HOWEVER, with a white chocolate mousse? You bet! Both cakes are absolutely beautiful. Aren't you glad that we both invested in a turntable? It sure makes frosting a whole lot easier. You are a talent with cakes my dear. I'll bet that the mayo made this super moist.I'm drooling.

I'm assuming if you are doing a 2 layer cake you spread all of the white chocolate mousse on the first layer? Also, I've never made a cake with mayonnaise in it, do the mayonnaise leave a aftertaste in your mouth.

I don't think I've ever seen a cake frosted this pretty, it's so smooth! Looks almost like one of those model cakes from a restaurant :). The sound of that frosting...wow! Sour cream?! Sounds like a hit.

I'd love to join in on the baking fun, but I don't want to embarrass myself... I am the worst cake decorator EVER, probably because I don't have the patience to frost anything sweet, since I just wanna dive in :P.

This cake looks great! I have a question though, one of the cakes was baked with 2 9 inch cake pans right? I plan to bake this in the near future, but I wasn't sure because the recipe said 3 9 inch cake pans. Thank you for sharing!

Esther- Yes, this cake was meant to be a triple layer cake, but instead of making one tall, cake, I made one smaller one and a 2-layer 9-inch cake. All of this batter should fit into 3 9-inch layers though so follow the recipe as it's written.

Also as far as the frosting goes, I don't know if you read my post or not, but I had to adapt the frosting a bit because it was very thin and gloppy. I added a cup of powdered sugar to it and some vanilla then beat it til it was the consistency I wanted. It was very good but you may have to play around with it a bit or just use your favorite chocolate frosting.

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Welcome To My Blog

My name is Monica and I'm a stay at home mom living in central Texas. I like to cook, but baking is my passion. I am an (obsessive) collector of cake stands, cookbooks and bakeware. I make lots of yummy treats and often share my sweet creations with friends, family and anyone else who is willing to be my guinea pig. I have lots of recipes in the archives so I hope you'll stick around for awhile!

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